What does a $600 billion defense budget, repression of civil rights and spying on US citizens buy you? Not enough to stop one smart dedicated man. The lesson learned?

The US military machine spends around $600 billion a year on national defense, but somehow it couldn’t stop a Florida mailman from landing his airborne protest right on the Capitol lawn. Doug Hughes arrived in a slow-moving, light-weight gyrocopter that he flew right past all the elaborate checkpoints and high-tech security monitors. His message to members of Congress: you and your institution are utterly corrupted by political money and we, the people, are coming after you.

“I’m just delivering the mail,” the Florida postal worker said with a touch of whimsical humor. “This isn’t my regular route.”

The guardians of national security said they saw him coming on their radar screens but thought he was probably a flock of geese. Stand-up comics should have fun with that.

But I expect Hughes’s imaginative assault on politics-as-usual will scare the crap out of a lot of Washington politicians. They have spent trillions to deploy a mighty military and awesome weaponry to protect American citizens from hostile foreigners. But how do politicians protect themselves from the hostile American citizens?

Hughes is not a dangerous fruitcake. In fact, he is a small-d democratic idealist who went out of his way to alert the authorities in advance of his so-called “Freedom Flight.” He shared his plans online and with his local newspaper, the Tampa Bay Times, which wrote about his ambitions and kept police informed.

Hughes may be naïve (or even delusional), but he actually believes citizens can take back their government and drive off the monied interests that have captured congressional politics. “Because we the people own Congress,” says the website called The Democracy Club, where Hughes and others post their critiques. His arguments are rational and he addresses them not to ideological radicals but to “moderates united by faith in principles of democracy.”

A populist fever is rising in the land. That may scare off regular pols, but I have seen and heard from many other discontented citizens plowing similar furrows. I admire them. They are trying to rediscover how people act like citizens. They are conscientiously attempting various approaches. They often make common cause with more established thinker and activists, like legal scholar Laurence Lessig who founded “Rootstrikers” to battle the money influence and get at the roots of democratic decay.

Or Trevor Potter, former chair of the Federal Elections Commission, who is promoting a model reform measure, the American Anti-Corruption Act. Or Wolf PAC, which is pushing in many states to promote a constitutional amendment banning corporate money from elections.

The quality most of the home-grown reformers seem to share is deep skepticism toward both political parties. Democrats and Republicans have both adapted themselves to the necessities of big-money politics and neither shows much appetite for deep reform. Indeed, a potential convergence of left and right is probably more possible among rank-and-file voters at the grassroots. For all their angry differences, Tea Party adherents and working-class Dems share many of the same enemies and same frustrated yearnings.

Doug Hughes, for instance, is clearly on the liberal side of the spectrum, but many right-wing conservatives would be comfortable with his critique. The evidence of corruption, he argues, is obvious in the fact that nearly half of retired members of Congress are subsequently employed as lobbyists, that is, getting paid big salaries for voting right as senators or representatives. They are thus participating in “legalized, institutionalized bribery,” he charges.

Many right-wingers would also agree with Hughes about the complicity of the major media. “I think there’s an alliance between the national media and supporters of the corrupt status quo,” Hughes wrote. “That’s the political parties and the ad money they command and the election industry which runs 365 days a year. The national media is sold out.”

The risk in the rising populist temperament is that some people will take their anger to extremes and people will get hurt or worse. Doug Hughes may make sure that he is not inuring anyone with his gyrocopter antics, but the same techniques could be used to create bloodshed and mayhem—a domestic front for terrorism.

I suspect congressional leaders are pondering these possibilities right now and will take stronger security measures to protect senators and representatives and their staffs. The trouble is, fear-driven protections that is justified for public officials can amount to shrinking free expression and public space for angry citizens. History tells us that, once an ugly cycle of repression gets underway, it can feed a dangerous hostility between the governors and the governed.

Doug Hughes was arrested, as he expected he would be. But he said this would not dampen his enthusiasm for small-d democratic agitation. “I see this as my life’s work,” Hughes said beforehand, “assuming the flight doesn’t kill me and I don’t get a lengthy prison term.”

Deuce: The best defense policy is to quit fucking with other people’s lives all the time and giving them reasons and cause to want to harm you.

And yet?

America is bombing the Sunnis/isis 1,800 times, thousands of drone strikes, war in iraq and other places....

But to "blame" America, or Israel? Focuses on the wrong issues.

Islam INVADED and conquered much of the middle east, murdering and enslaving millions.

Islam ATTACKED, KIDNAPPED and MURDERED Americans in 1783 by taking the Betsey and the Philadelphia and demanding ransom and tribute that ended up with the Barbary Wars and the CREATION of the US Marines.

Ever hear the line "Shores of Tripoli"?

Islam and it's violent conquest has been FUCKING with everyone it has come in contact with since the day it was born.

When this blog advocates that Jews and Israel have no right to be, as the arabs that live in the region are the natives, one ONLY has to look at Jerusalem and the Temple Mount to see that Islamic BRA of GOLD sit ATOP the Jewish Temple.

Tel Aviv based firm which harnesses energy from ocean waves receives permission to establish first plant in China.

Tel Aviv-based Eco Wave Power, which works to harness energy from ocean waves, has established a Chinese subsidiary and received approval to establish its first plant in the Asian country, the company announced on Thursday.

Eco Wave’s subsidiary, Suzhou Eco Wave Technology, will operate in the city of Changshu, in the jurisdiction of Suzhou, in the Jiangsu province. Construction of the 100-kilowatt, grid-connected power plant on Zoushan Island in the eastern Zhejiang province is expected to be complete by the end of 2015, the company said.

Establishment of the subsidiary is the result of an initial $800,000 investment, with 80 percent of the money coming from a Chinese governmental fund and 20% by Eco Wave Power. This investment was announced at an initial signing ceremony in Beijing in May 2013, in the presence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

In addition to the first pilot power plant on Zoushan Island, Suzhou Eco Wave Technology is in advanced negotiations regarding an additional 50 MW in the Zhejiang province, according to Eco Wave.

The Fall of Ramadi Would Mean a Devastating Win for ISIS by Tom Rogan April 17, 2015 3:11 PM

Home to hundreds of thousands, the Iraqi city of Ramadi may soon fall to the Islamic State. Not wanting to become minions of the death state that is ISIS, families are trying to escape their homes and flee the capital of the country’s vast Anbar province. Tribal leaders and government officials warn that the situation is truly dire. Still, Ramadi’s looming collapse has long been predictable. After all, it’s not exactly a secret that ISIS wants to control the arterial roads that connect central Syria with central Iraq (if you want to see the strategic importance of those highways, just look on Google maps). Neither is it a secret that ISIS wants to dominate the Euphrates river from northern Syria into central Iraq. Or that it wants to dismember the governance structures in Anbar province. Its strategy is vested in the domination of territory and the appropriation of Sunni populations under its banner. RELATED: On Every Front, Obama’s Anti-Terror Policies Are Criminally Negligent The simple fact is that if Ramadi collapses, the Islamic State will symbolically and physically crown itself the ruler of Anbar. Propaganda being central to its strategic narrative — that which it uses to gain resources and recruits — the seizure of Ramadi would be an extraordinary victory. It would also be an extraordinary defeat for the struggling Iraqi government. Without Ramadi, the Iraqi government’s legitimacy as a counter-balancing force against the Islamic State would be annihilated. For months, the Sunni tribes in Anbar have been pursuing tentative relationships with the central government in Baghdad. The problem here is that trust between the tribes in Baghdad is, to put it mildly, weak. Were Ramadi to fall, any confidence in the Iraqi government’s credibility as an ally would dissipate. Such a development would give the Islamic State another avenue through which to either co-opt or further destabilize the tribes. Most catastrophically, the Islamic State’s domination of Ramadi would restrain perceivable Sunni resistance to ISIS. The city’s fall would thus encourage the ultimatum that ISIS seeks to give Sunni citizens: Either join us or yield to Shia militias and Army of Iran. More ISIS Crucifixion: It’s Not Ancient History Anymore Late Republic Studies: Unhelpful Roman Lessons The Yemen Mess Is Sparking a Full-Fledged Regional War Again, this politicization of sectarianism is at the heart of the conflicts in Iraq and Syria. With Iran transforming Iraq into Ayatollah Khamenei’s newest province, and elements of the Iraqi security forces de-legitimizing their credibility in Sunni towns — by abuses, looting, etc. — Iraq’s government has little credibility with its Sunni citizens. This is toxic. Wiping out the opportunities for cross-sectarian consensus (for which there is potential), the Islamic State is empowered and Iraq’s collapse into civil war becomes ever more likely. It is for these reasons that the administration’s downplaying of Ramadi’s significance is so galling. While General Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has long been advising President Obama for more comprehensive action against the Islamic State, he’s wrong to suggest that Ramadi isn’t that important. It most certainly is. We should have been supporting (as I explained here) the Anbar tribes with military support and political empowerment for months now. But there’s also an American moral issue at stake here. A better future for Ramadi — that which it had before the Islamic State’s rise — was built with American sweat and blood. It was in Anbar that Marines fought so valiantly and so successfully to win the Sunni tribes to their side, and together crush al-Qaeda in Iraq. Instead, today, Ramadi is a miserable result of our failing strategy.

2. As noted above, there was plenty of 'American blood and sweat' involved.

3. I think the battle started somewhere around April, 2006 and lasted until 2007 (longer by some accounts).

4, The Sunni Awakening really started around August, 2006 (the Anbar Salvation Council was formed in September, 2006) but really didn't get going fully until the end of the year. While it helped, it was not a major factor in the battle though it helped stabilize the region later.

5. Though the Awakening was funded by the US and expanded to other areas through 2007, the reason the Salvation Council was initially formed was that the Sunni tribes, many of whom had been fighting alongside al-Queda, got tired of al-Queda's unbending adherence to Wahhabi principles and their continued assassinations of those they suspected of not supporting their fight. The precipitating event was al-Queda's assassination of a prominent sheik and their refusal to allow him to be buried in the Muslim tradition.

5. Although the outcome of the 2006 battle for Ramadi may be in dispute, their is no doubt US troops played the prominent role on the allied side and that they shed plenty of blood and sweat. That being said the author's statement hardly 'invalidates' the entire piece.

“We are where we thought we would be at this point in the execution of the military campaign to degrade, dismantle and ultimately defeat ISIL,” said Ryder, quoting recent congressional testimony from Centcom commander Army Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III.

“As the fighting near Beiji and Ramadi this week has demonstrated, this remains a very tough fight,” Ryder said from Centcom’s headquarters at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida.

“While ISIL is largely on the defensive in Iraq, we should expect this enemy to conduct the attacks like we’re seeing in Beiji and Ramadi to hold terrain, disrupt the Iraqi security forces and gain publicity,” he added.

Using a projected map to outline three operational areas in Iraq, he said Iraqi and coalition forces continue operations in eastern Anbar province from Karma to Haditha, and in Fallujah and Ramadi.

Haditha Under Iraqi Control

“Some parts of Anbar such as portions of Ramadi remain contested, while others such as Haditha remain firmly under Iraqi control,” Ryder said.

Centcom has assessed that Ramadi remains contested, with ISIL regaining some territory in recent days, he said.

Obama is not "supporting" either the Shia Tribes, nor the Sunni Tribes. He's supporting the elected government of Iraq - and, he only agreed to do that if they would ditch Malaki, and put in someone who would cooperate with the Sunni.

As for Anbar, we certainly aren't putting much effort into helping the Iraqis hold it; we're only (ill-advisedly, or not) running a couple of bombing missions/day, there.

A Syrian boy being treated for wounds he sustained in his home country’s civil war is spending this Passover receiving treatment in an Israeli hospital, and really enjoyed eating traditional matzah crackers, calling them a “delicacy”, Israel’s NRG reported on Tuesday.

Since the outbreak of war in Syria four years ago, Israel has opened its borders to Syrian civilians injured in the fighting to come to the Jewish state for medical treatment. Among them was this young boy, who was seriously injured in his lower extremities after being hit by a shell, almost seven months ago.

He underwent 17 unsuccessful operations in Syria, after which local doctors despaired from his chances of recovery, and told his mother that her son would not be able to walk again on his feet.

The mother did not accept their response, and, realizing that the medical treatment in Syria was inadequate to deal with her son’s injuries, she decided to bring the boy to Israel.

Two weeks ago, with the help of relatives, the boy was brought to the Israeli border, and was then evacuated for medical treatment at the Ziv Medical Center in the northern Israeli city of Safed.

The mother’s gamble succeeded, and after a complex procedure that lasted for several hours under the leadership of Professor Alexander Lerner – an internationally renowned expert on treating complex war injuries – the young boy was able to walk with the aid of a treadmill, and is likely to be able to walk independently in the future.

Being as the boy’s arrival in Israel for treatment coincided with the Passover holiday, he was able to enjoy another experience – eating matzah, according to NRG. The medical team handling his treatment told the boy and his mother about the meaning and history of the Passover holiday as well as the reason for eating matzah, offering them the traditional Passover bread to try.

The boy commented on how much he enjoyed the Israeli “delicacy” and that he would love to live in Israel.

On Friday April 17, a series of shootouts and blockades swept the border city of Reynosa, Tamaulipas.

Around 10:00 AM federal forces were attacked in the Zona Centro and Industrial colonia. The situation was calm for a while, but after 12:40 PM shootouts and blockades took place on Hidalgo boulevard in the Valle Alto colonia, where an unnamed cartel leader was arrested.

Thereafter violence exploded throughout the city, including the free highway Matamoros-Monterrey, Morelos boulevard, and Hidalgo boulevard, as armed individuals hijacked vehicles and set them on fire in an apparent attempt to aid in rescuing their captured comrade. Likewise, the offices of the Attorney General of the Republic (PGR) in the city was shot.

The Roman Catholics are doing a 'good job' of propagating violence and turmoil in Mexico, as well as exporting it to the US.There is ample evidence of that, but none that there are Islamic State operatives in Mexico, plotting our demise.

While Hamas terrorists continued to hurl rockets and missiles at Israel, including the city of Haifa, Rambam Medical Center is now treating 20 Palestinians, including eight children from Gaza.

The largest hospital in Haifa said on Thursday that it provides medical care to Palestinians year round. The latest group to come were 11 from the Palestinian Authority area and nine more from Gaza who needed outpatient care. Most of them are children suffering from cancer or kidney disease who cannot get adequate care near their homes. They were accompanied by family members. Some children are also hospitalized at Rambam over the long term.

Every year, hundreds of Palestinian outpatients and inpatients, including some 650 children and teens, are treated at the Haifa medical center. Some of them come with very difficult conditions that require hospitalization.

Yazid Fallah, who coordinates medical treatment at the hospital for Palestinians, said that “despite the security situation and the fact that the two sides are fighting each other, medical care for children and adults continues as usual.”

He added that the Gaza patients “feel locked up in an impossible situation. On the one hand, they are in Israel and see what Gaza terrorists have done, and at the same team they see how their own population is being hurt by retaliatory attacks from Israel and are worried for the safety of their families.”

Fallah reported that some Palestinian patients are ashamed of what the terrorists have done, but are afraid to return to Gaza out of concerned that they would be punished for going to an Israeli hospital for treatment. In general, they want to live quietly, but it’s clear to them that the situation has changed for the worse and is declining,” the Rambam staffer said.

How many wounded israelis were treated by the Palestinians or Hamas? Syria?

Show me where one Arab nation attacking Israel, took care of Israeli civilians?

Oh I got one...

The Hadassah convoy massacre took place on April 13, 1948, when a convoy, escorted by Haganah militia, bringing medical and military supplies and personnel to Hadassah Hospital on Mount Scopus was ambushed by Arab forces.[1][2]

Seventy-eight Jewish doctors, nurses, students, patients, faculty members and Haganah fighters, and one British soldier were killed in the attack. Dozens of unidentified bodies, burned beyond recognition, were buried in a mass grave in the Sanhedria Cemetery. The Jewish Agency claimed that the massacre was a gross violation of international humanitarian law, and demanded action be taken against a breach of the Geneva Conventions.[1] The Arabs claimed they had attacked a military formation, that all members of the convoy had engaged in combat, and that it had been impossible to distinguish combatants from civilians. An enquiry was conducted. Eventually an agreement was reached to separate military from humanitarian convoys.[2]

The loss of the Anbar Provincial capital city of Ramadi seems to be all but finished tonight, with Iraqi Defense Ministry officials no longer claiming they can still win, but rather promising to launch a “counter-offensive” to try to retake the city in the future.

Fighting was reported at the gates of the city, but most of the activity around the outskirts of Ramadi was civilians fleeing into the countryside, hoping to avoid a blood siege.

The latest reports out of the city are that ISIS forces are no more than 500 meters from the center of the city, and are almost certain to wrap up their push in the next day or two.

US military leaders have shrugged off the imminent loss of the city and its half million residents as “not central to the future of Iraq,” insisting there was no serious impact to the overall war.

- 15,205 tons of construction material , and 16.8 million liters of fuel were delivered from Israel to Gaza.- 804 tons of goods were exported from Gaza and marketed in Judea and Samaria.- 11,826 Palestinians, including medical patients, passed into Israel through the Erez Terminal.

May 2014

- 5,392 truckloads of goods, including 1,949 truckloads of food products and 986 truckloads of construction materials, were delivered from Israel to Gaza.- 4 truckloads of goods and boxes were exported from Gaza.- 14,328 Palestinians, including medical patients, passed into Israel through the Erez Terminal.

April 2014

- 3,724 truckloads of goods, including 1,674 truckloads of food products and 603 truckloads of construction materials, were delivered from Israel to Gaza.- 3 truckloads of goods and boxes were exported from Gaza.- 11,867 Palestinians, including medical patients, passed into Israel through the Erez Terminal.

February 2014

- 4,364 truckloads of goods, including 1,705 truckloads of food products and 908 truckloads of construction materials, were delivered from Israel to Gaza.- 14 truckloads of goods and boxes were exported from Gaza.- 12,256 Palestinians, including medical patients, passed into Israel through the Erez Terminal.

January 2014

- 4,838 truckloads of goods, including 2,215 truckloads of food products and 572 truckloads of construction materials, were delivered from Israel to Gaza.- 31.5 truckloads of goods and boxes were exported from Gaza.- 14,888 Palestinians, including medical patients, passed into Israel through the Erez Terminal.

December 2013

- 4,522 truckloads of goods, including 2,135 truckloads of food products and 644 truckloads of construction materials, were delivered from Israel to Gaza.- 54.5 truckloads of goods and boxes were exported from Gaza.- 12,006 Palestinians, including medical patients, passed into Israel through the Erez Terminal.

November 2013

- 4,172 truckloads of goods, including 1,936 truckloads of food products and 111 truckloads of construction materials, were delivered from Israel to Gaza.- 10 truckloads of goods and boxes were exported from Gaza.- 12,584 Palestinians, including medical patients, passed into Israel through the Erez Terminal.

October 2013

- 6,381 truckloads of goods, including 2,319 truckloads of food products and 1,493 truckloads of construction materials, were delivered from Israel to Gaza.- 5 truckloads of goods and boxes were exported from Gaza.- 10,595 Palestinians, including medical patients, passed into Israel through the Erez Terminal.

September 2013

- 5,549 truckloads of goods, including 1,947 truckloads of food products and 1,700 truckloads of construction materials, were delivered from Israel to Gaza.- 4 truckloads of goods and boxes were exported from Gaza.- 8,589 Palestinians, including medical patients, passed into Israel through the Erez Terminal.

Because they get paid for it, you nitwit. Because they are an occupying power and they have an obligation to do it. Because they control the the borders of Gaza, land, air, and sea and because over a million people would die if they didn't. Damn, you are dense.

I'm am sick of the bullshit about Israel and the bullshit spouted here by both sides. Lately, I have tried to stay out of it; however, this crazy bullshit WiO has been spouting for the last couple weeks drives me nutz.

'It's not Israel that is blockading Gaza, it is Egypt. Look at a map.'

The statement is asinine. You look at a map.

Israel controlled the entire border fence until 2005 when they turned control of one portion, that where Gaza abuts Egypt, over to Egypt.

The current Egyptian border with Gaza is about 12 km long.

The current Israeli border with the Gaza strip is about 60 km long. You can add another 40 km for the Mediterranean coast.

Look at a map.

Israel confines Gaza through the use of a border fence, an established 'no man's land' where you can be shot upon entering, and guard posts and watch towers.

Israel controls ingress/egress to Gaza by land through a small number of checkpoints, checkpoints that are sporadically closed. They control 'who' goes in and who goes out. They control 'what' goes in and goes out. They control 'when' it goes in and goes out. They control 'where' it goes in and goes out.

They control travel to and from Gaza by land or air; and with the imposition of their blockade they also control the sea.

They restrict Gazan fishing to 3 miles off shore.

They inhibit Gaza's ability to develop their natural resources by demanding that any natural gas pumped for export must flow through Israeli pipelines.

It may not be the coming hot we have to worry about but the coming cold.....

>>>The onset of the next glaciation, another ice age, is widely expected. It would spell a severe test for humanity but would probably not terminate human existence on the planet. It would not match the ultimate catastrophe, the impact of a large asteroid, such as occurred 65 million years ago at the beginning of the Tertiary, which wiped out the dinosaurs.

The survival of the human race depends very much on advanced technology. This is especially the case for climate change. Good-quality agricultural land will be limited; but hothouse yields could be high. An efficient distribution system could alleviate the threat of starvation for a reduced population. Nuclear energy, based on uranium/thorium fission and on fusion reactors, may provide the mainstay of civilization. We may well be living underground, but not necessarily in caves.

An international cooperative project to stop ice ages

I can visualize a possible international collaboration that might involve three teams in North America, Europe, and Asia, working independently and using their own satellite systems -- but coordinating their efforts under WMO (World Meteorological Organization) auspices. The satellites, using simple TV cameras, could keep track of any long-term growth in surface albedo from snow and ice; an averaging interval might be 3-10 years.

Once such secular growth has been detected, each of the three teams would carry out a plan to stop such growth. Though operating independently, they might consult widely on the best techniques for generating and depositing soot and for keeping track of albedo changes.

The aim, of course, is to break the positive feedback cycle that presumably leads to the growth of an ice-age glaciation. One can think of various practical problems that could arise; yet none of them seem insurmountable or particularly costly. But a test would certainly be worthwhile.

Stopping the next ice age appears to be well within our technical capability and carries a huge benefit-to-cost ratio. An investment of millions would prevent the loss of trillions of dollars.

S. Fred Singer is professor emeritus at the University of Virginia and director of the Science & Environmental Policy Project. His specialty is atmospheric and space physics. An expert in remote sensing and satellites, he served as the founding director of the US Weather Satellite Service and, more recently, as vice chair of the US National Advisory Committee on Oceans & Atmosphere. He is a Senior Fellow of the Heartland Institute and the Independent Institute. He co-authored NY Times best-seller Unstoppable Global Warming: Every 1500 years. In 2007, he founded and has chaired the NIPCC (Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change), which has released several scientific reports [See NIPCCreport.org]. For recent writings see http://www.americanthinker.com/s_fred_singer/ and also Google Scholar.<<<

WASHINGTON, April 18 (Reuters) - The United States and its allies have launched 20 air strikes targeting Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria since early on Friday, the Combined Joint Task Force leading the operations said on Saturday.

There were seven air strikes in Syria using attack and bomber aircraft near Kobani and Al Hasakah and 13 in Iraq using fighter and attack aircraft as well as drones near Bayji, Ramadi, Al Asad, Fallujah, Sinjar, Hit and Tal Afar, it said in a statement. (Reporting by Will Dunham; Editing by Louise Ireland)

More Daesh are getting dead every day.***************************************

April 18, 2015ISIS drive on Ramadi could be a game changerBy Rick Moran

Every time the administration tries to spin the war against Islamic State in Iraq as going well, IS fighters make them out to be liars.

Last week, the administration trotted a Pentagon spokesman out to tell the press that US coalition efforts have pushed Islamic State out of 30% of the territory they captured last year.

No problem, says IS. We'll just take Ramadi and make you look like fools.

Ramadi, the city in Anbar province that has earned a place in the Marine Corps history as a bloody victory in 2005, is under a dire threat from Islamic State forces who are attacking the outskirts and threatening to overturn the US plans in Iraq.

The administration is downplaying the threat, saying that if IS takes Ramadi, it won't be a big deal. But the Iraqi government begs to differ and is pouring troops into the battle to keep IS from overrunning the city.

Although troops and armed tribesmen had previously been able to stop the militants reaching the compound that hosts the provincial government and security headquarters, Mr Fahdawi said it was now within range of their weapons.

The interior ministry has sent "an urgent response unit", but Mr Fahdawi said the reinforcements were insufficient to repel the assault.

Another member of the provincial council insisted that Ramadi was not falling.

But Farhan Mohammed told the BBC that while Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and Defence Minister Khaled al-Obeidi were both out of the country, Anbar was in the midst of a major battle.

He accused the government in Baghdad of not being serious about tackling the crisis in the province.

The BBC's Paul Adams says Anbar is overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim and its leaders have accused the Shia-dominated government of ignoring their concerns - something that has helped to turn Anbar into fertile territory for IS.

The latest fighting is taking its toll on the people of Ramadi, who have suffered terribly for more than a decade, our correspondent adds.

More than 2,000 families had fled from their homes because of the fighting, migration ministry official Sattar Nowruz told AP.

How bad would it be if IS took Ramadi? You will note the tone of frustration by the Sunni leader, chastizing the government for not caring. This is is the suspiciion harbored by many Sunnis in Anbar, who can't decide who's the bigger enemy; Shia militias that rampage through Sunni towns or Islamic State fanatics who execute anyone they don't much care for.

ISIS’s defeat in Tikrit could not have happened without thousands of Shiite militia members, many trained, advised and armed by Iranian Quds force members. When Iraqi and militas forces faltered, the U.S.-led coalition began airstrikes on the condition that Iranian advisers on the ground leave.

But in Ramadi, which sits 70 miles northwest of Baghdad, there is no significant Shiite militia presence. Rather, there’s an Iraqi Security forces that is struggling to fend off the ISIS threat on its own.

Should Iraqi forces appear to only be able to win with the help of militiamen that reportedly looted their communities, it could exacerbate the very same sectarian tensions that led to the rise of ISIS.

“It can increase Sunni resentment and can set the stage of future Sunni resistance against Shiite advancement,” Gartenstein-Ross said. Given that the groups were also backed in some way by Iran “creates risks of perception of regional Shite war.”

And with less territory to control, there could be more ISIS fighters available to move to other areas to “surge them somewhere else or try to capture new territory.”

A week ago, the administration was debating whether they should try to retake Mosul this spring or wait until the fall. Now they have disaster staring them in the face and the best they can do is pretend that what matters almost more than anything, doesn't matter at all.

If Ramadi falls, most of Anbar goes with it and civil war with the Shia militias becomes more likely. That's a scenario that would blow up US plans for the future in Iraq and allow Islamic State a virtual free hand in the western and central parts of the country.

Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson keeps posting the piece from the American Stinker, even after the reality on the ground has 'moved on'.

AMMONNEWS -The Iraqi army started on Saturday its operation to halt Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants from further advancing in Ramadi city, the capital of the western Anbar province, Al Arabiya News Channel’s correspondent reported.

Earlier in Saturday, Iraqi forces, with the backing of Shiite militia volunteers known as “Popular Mobilization units” started heading toward Anbar to stop ISIS militants from claiming control over Ramadi while the parliament in Baghdad called on neighboring Arab countries to offer their support.

ISIS militants have been making inroads near Ramadi since last week, when the government announced a new offensive to recapture Anbar, large parts of which the militant group has held for the past year.

Many of Ramadi’s residents started fleeing the city, waving white flags after police sources and provincial council members said on Friday that ISIS militants were no more than half a kilometer from the city’s center.

The operation began after the Iraqi forces retook most of the country’s largest refinery from ISIS on Saturday, security officials said, reversing gains by the militants who seized parts of the sprawling complex this week.

The insurgents attacked Iraq’s Baiji refinery a week ago by blasting through the security perimeter around it and taking over several in stallions, including storage tanks.

A spokesman for Iraq’s counterterrorism forces told Reuters troops protecting the refinery had now retaken most facilities, although there were still small pockets of insurgents left on the site.

Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri was killed by Iraqi soldiers and allied Shiite militiamen in a government operation to the east of Saddam's hometown of Tikrit, the Salahuddin provincial governor, Raed al-Jabouri, told The Associated Press.

al-Douri was one of Saddam's primary subordinates, his presence in and around Tikrit seems to be a confirmation of one of our previous threads, taken from the WaPo, which told the tale that the Islamic State really was just another incarnation of Saddam's regime, wrapped in a 'religious' cloak..

The ISraeli are transferring hundreds of millions of dollars worth of tax revenues that the ISraeli have collected for their political subordinates.

In December, Israel began withholding around $130 million per month of taxes it collects on behalf of the Palestinians after the Palestinian Authority announced it was joining the International Criminal Court (ICC)

Douglas Hughes landed his gyrocopter on the Capitol lawn trying to deliver letters to Congress. His wife Alena says he is a patriot and a law-abiding citizen.

Hughes flew his gyrocopter through the restricted airspace around the National Mall landing it on the West Lawn Wednesday. He was carrying 535 letters to Congress about the campaign finance reform. He was detained and charged with operating an unregistered aircraft and violating national airspace.

Hughes was released from jail but had to give up his passport and is not allowed in Washington DC any more. He is also not allowed to fly.

His wife Alena says she didn't know this could have happened.

"From the public point of view this is very brave," she said in an exclusive interview with WFLA News Channel 8.

But she added that she almost feels betrayed because if something happened to Doug it would have caused "a big grief to the family."

"Law is law," she said. "And he broke the law."

Alena told us she couldn't sleep for two nights and was really worried about her husband. She can't concentrate on anything and just wants him to get home.

"I am his wife and I will support him no matter what," she said.

Alena is from Belarus. She and Doug met online and then had a few dates in Moscow and St. Petersburg in Russia before she moved to the US in 2002 and the two got married. They just celebrated their 13th anniversary last weekend.

Alena knew that Doug was very patriotic and interested in politics. He followed the news and was in the know of the current political events. He seemed to have supported President Obama and thought that Congress blocked many of the President's efforts, she said.

Alena said Doug bought the gyrocopter about two years ago and she wasn't very happy about the purchase. She said this wasn't a very good way to spend the family's money. Doug kept the gyrocopter at the Wauchula airport where he worked on it. That's where he likely learned how to fly it.

Alena asked him if he needed a license and he explained that for this type of an aircraft he didn't need anything like that. Alena said he was sure he wasn't doing anything wrong.

Alena said Doug had his own lawyer in Washington and she hired one in Ruskin to represent her. Attorney Paul Carr said that Alena was shocked and in tears when they talked about the situation.

"After discussing the situation with her I didn't see any criminal intent," Carr said. "In fact there's a lot of people that would like to approach Congress."

So, it probably just doesn’t matter that much if al-Douri was killed (his death has been reported many times in the past). He was old in his 70s, and likely not very vigorous any more. And his earlier successes as an insurgent have turned bitter since his foolish decision to ally with Daesh went bad and the latter displaced him.

One conclusion we can draw is that by destroying the Baath government of Iraq, the Bush administration created a vacuum of power and culture that religious forms of resistance filled. Iraqi Sunnis were among the more secular people in the Middle East. It is desperation that drove them to religious revolt. One man’s death won’t make any difference in that process.

As for labeling folks 'terrorists', ISrael is one of the world's leading "State Sponsor of Terrorism", if we were to ask the victims of ISraeli terror.

The US is often accused of being a terrorist entity, even by commentators here at the Elephant Bar.The Predator drone Hellfire missile strikes, especially in Pakistan, are often held up as an example of US terror tactics.

As is often said ..."One man's terrorist is another man's patriot."

CYPRUS 1954-1959In this case, much of the material was forwarded by a Greek military officer who saw the National Organization of Cypriot Struggle (EOKA) as patriots fighting to unite Cyprus with Greece. The reader might find some of the comments troubling, but it is important to remember that one man’s terrorist is another man’s patriot. The American Revolution is a case in point.

As is always the case, the British considered the armed Cypriots terrorists while the Greeks considered them patriots. EOKA was aware that it could not win a military victory against the British but through carefully planned actions against British military targets and a strong propaganda campaign; it hoped to gain control of the local population, sway world opinion, and wear down the British. Grivas said:

It should not be supposed that by these means we should expect to impose a total defeat on the British forces in Cyprus. Our purpose is to win a moral victory through a process of attrition, by harassing, confusing, and, finally, exasperating the enemy forces…By demonstrating Cypriot resolve and self-sacrifice, we are prepared to continue until international diplomacy exercises through the United Nations, and the British in particular, are compelled to examine the Cyprus problem . . .

The Greeks in Cyprus were using the same terror tactics employed by the Zionists in Palestine.

The Zionists were terrorists, from the British point of view, while the Zionists did not see themselves in that way.From the Zionist perspective, they were patriots.

The Palestinians, the Kurds of Turkey, the Catholics of Northern Ireland, Hezbollah, George Washington and Robert E Lee ...While there are an awful lot of folks that think William Tecumseh Sherman was a terrorist, while others think he was a hero.

Half of Jerusalem is Arab, claimed by the Palestinians, a claim that is held as legal by the United Nations, so it cannot be considered "Jewish" by any stretch of the imagination.Not by international law, not by religious history nor by common sense.

So what does "O"rdure mean, claiming that there are "Jewish" cities?Where are these cities, what are there names?

Where in the world can only Jews reside?If these cities exist, are they then not evidence of apartheid?

Netanyahu must wake up to the new realityAnalysis: With an American president who is losing patience with the insults hurled at him, a failed Israeli attempt at reshaping the Iranian nuclear agreement and a looming UN resolution on the Palestinians, it's time for a reboot of international policy.

...The Republicans wanted a law that would give the Senate the power to ratify or reject the deal. President Barack Obama threatened to exercise his veto right over any such bill. Emissaries of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged the committee members to insist that the bill include two demands that were not included in the deal – recognition of Israel on the part of the Iranian government, and a promise from Tehran to end its support of terrorist organizations.

To the surprise of many, an agreement was reached within a day. Both sides contributed to the compromise: Obama lifted his veto threat and agreed to allow the Senate to oversee the process with Iran; and the Republican majority in the Senate retracted its demand that the framework deal be approved by the Senate and agreed to wait until the end of June, when the Iranians are due to sign the final agreement. The two Israeli demands vanished into thin air. I'll get back to them in a moment – and to the bitter smile they brought to Obama's face.

From a practical point of view, the compromise in the Senate gives US Secretary of State John Kerry and his team a first-class ticket to Lausanne: The Senate won't bother them again until the end of June, and it won't trouble the Iranians at all.

If the negotiations end in failure, the Senate will no longer be relevant; if, on the other hand, an agreement is reached, it will be discussed in Washington once China, Russia, France, Britain and Germany put pen to paper and promise to lift the sanctions. The rest of the world will follow suit. With or without the US Senate, the horses will bolt the stables.

...The fate of the Iranian nuclear program now rests with the ayatollahs – and them alone. Iran's status as a nuclear threshold nation has been recognized by the international community – including the United States.

Israel took a major blow, of historic proportions. Jerusalem's huge public relations drive came to naught. Governments weren't the only ones that brushed us aside; Israel's closest friends on Capitol Hill, those who represent constituencies with large Jewish populations and who enjoy the support of Jewish billionaires, are now doing the same. At this point in time, a responsible government would stop and rethink its course of action.

...

... Netanyahu has his own agenda: Judging by his speeches over the past few days, he appears to believe that everything is still open to change, that the members of Congress are still sitting in the auditorium and applauding him. He's like Emperor Nero, who played on his fiddle while Rome burned.

In private conversations, Obama expresses his longing for the old Israel, the Israel of 1967 – the fighting, pioneering and democratic Israel; the Israel that was admired by all the American Jews he knew. One can argue over whether that impression of Israel was real or a myth, reality or wishful thinking; but one cannot deny the strength of that image.

Israel today, Obama says, is not the Israel I fell in love with. Israel today is an arrogant country, which continues to build settlements and thumb its nose at the rest of the world, which denies the existence of the Palestinians, and which treats them like ghosts.

The opinions attributed here to Obama are based on comments I have heard from people who have met with him of late. The statements reflect the spirit of his comments and are not the actual words he used. That's why I refrained from placing them between quotation marks.

France and New Zealand, Obama says, are about to present the UN Security Council with a resolution on the Palestinian issue. It will contain all of the phrases that Israel finds so important but will, at the end, call for the establishment of a Palestinian state in keeping with the 1967 borders.

The government of Israel expects us, the United States, to impose a veto. I cannot say how we will respond; we haven't decided yet. But I have to ask myself: Why does Israel allows itself to do whatever it wants and still expect us to veto a resolution that accurately reflects our long-standing policy? Why should America impose a veto against itself?

The United States' blind support of Israel will not last forever, Obama has warned. There's been a shift in public opinion. Look what's happening on American campuses. Ask students what they think about Israel.

Yet wherever the left holds sway, Israel is seen through jaundiced eyes. There has been an unprecedented moral inversion, illustrating the power of a noxious idea to seep from the ideological fringe to the mainstream....

... Now, with each new poll confirming Democratic chilliness toward the Jewish state Democrats once loved, can it be anything but a precursor of worse to come?

Each standing on the shoulders of those that came before, but each standing on their own.

Your people, they deny their own past, their own roots ...Manufacturing a history from their collective delusion, the Ashkenazi have forgotten their own past ...Creating a false history to justify an immoral present.

It is worse than being forgotten, it is the denial of your own people's past.That is their reality, today.

This is an astonishing harvest of danger from a Muslim community here of fewer than 500,000 people.

Compare: we have more than 400,000 Buddhists, yet not one Buddhist has been convicted here of terrorism ­offences or shot a hostage in a Sydney cafe in the name of their faith.

And of course politicians, particularly those on the left, have not been forthcoming about this simple fact.

And “human rights” lawyer and writer Julian Burnside this year claimed “the Islamophobia stirred up by Abbott and Bolt is a bigger threat to us than terrorism”.

This denial must stop.

Our refugee intake must be stricter, taking fewer people from cultures likely to clash with our own.

And we must be slower to shut down debates with screams of “racist”.

If you fear racists, then fear the ugly fallout if police one day fail to stop an Anzac Day plot by people that more prudent politicians would have kept out.

But that’s the logic of the denial. The harder it’s shaken, the harder it pushes back. Every Muslim terror attack disproves the premise of the appeasers and shows their complicity in taking the lives of the locals. So they have to go to greater lengths to cover it up.

The more violent their pals are, the bigger and more intensive the cover-up becomes until in one voice they all insist that the Islamic State is not Islamic. Black is white. Slavery is freedom. Appeasement is security.

About Daniel Greenfield

Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is a New York writer focusing on radical Islam. He is completing a book on the international challenges America faces in the 21st century.

Woodward to CNN: Generals 'On Their Knees' to Keep Troop...www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/Iraq-Woodward-Bernstein-CNN/... Cached... a "status of forces agreement" to leave troops in Iraq to assist with ... not true," Obama ... Heading to Iraq; US Spy Agencies Warned Maliki Was ...USMC General Warns Obama that Pulling Troops out of ...unitedcats.wordpress.com/2010/08/25/usmc-general... CachedAug 25, 2010 · ... general James Conway, has warned that President Obama's deadline to begin pulling troops out of Afghanistan ... Or dead on the streets of Iraq and ...Barack Obama silences generals on US ground troops in Ir...www.telegraph.co.uk › News › World News › Barack ObamaSep 17, 2014 · Barack Obama silences generals on US ground troops in Iraq ... President Barack Obama today ... US troops may return to Iraq to fight Isil, top general warns.

And dozens of others.

Now, go fuck yourself.

No one wants to be around you any longer. No one wants to read your shit any longer.

Thousands of Iraqis have started to migrate from Ramadi city, where the U.S.-led coalition has intensified its airstrikes against Daesh positions, to Baghdad, said a security official.

People leaving their homes in Ramadi, the capital of the western Anbar province, are making their ways towards Iraqi capital Baghdad, an Iraqi commander in the region, Brigadier General Abdullah Carilah, has told The Anadolu Agency.

Hundreds of families were under siege in Ramadi after Daesh seized control of the Albu Ghanim area in eastern Ramadi on Wednesday. Some are now about 40 kilometers south of Baghdad.

"Around 15,000 people have crossed the bridge (over the Euphrates River) to Baghdad in the last 24 hours," Brigadier General Abdullah Carilah said.

His comments came after IS, which holds swathes of Syria and Iraq, said it was responsible for a suicide bombing in Afghanistan's eastern city of Jalalabad which killed 33 people....... Ghani said IS presented "a serious danger and different form of terrorism".

"People die daily, we face barbarism," he said at a joint press conference, prompting Rouhani to nod in agreement.

"And without greater cooperation a macabre phenomenon such as Daesh cannot be contained," Ghani said, using an Arabic acronym for IS.

Rouhani said: "We have agreed to cooperate further in the fight against terrorism, violence and extremism in the region, especially in border regions.

"We need intelligence sharing and, if necessary, cooperation in operations because the problems that exist are not restricted and gradually spread throughout the region, affecting everyone."

Magnificent Ronald and the Founding Fathers of al Qaeda

“These gentlemen are the moral equivalents of America’s founding fathers.” — Ronald Reagan while introducing the Mujahideen leaders to media on the White house lawns (1985). During Reagan’s 8 years in power, the CIA secretly sent billions of dollars of military aid to the mujahedeen in Afghanistan in a US-supported jihad against the Soviet Union. We repeated the insanity with ISIS against Syria.